Between the Extremes

Snowdrifts...I used to get all bundled up and go out walking in rural South Dakota, USA during blizzards. I have followed fence lines and telephone poles to try to keep some kind of track of where I was, for it was dangerous. If one got lost, and blindly wandered into a field, a person could freeze to death. I enjoyed the walk because there was no person that would interrupt while I was talking to God, and there were no distractions that would fight against my attention either.

There are a lot of things I have done in my life I would not recommend for someone else to do. Seeking God is wisdom, doing so in a blizzard isn't probably the wisest method.


All of us have strengths and weaknesses, and it is possible for our strengths to be weaknesses sometimes. An ability to concentrate can help a person stay focused on something, but if a person walks out in front of a traveling bus while in deep concentration, they might just get run over. Concentration is good, but so is paying attention.


Several times in my lifetime, while concentrating on one thing, I have failed to see the bus before it hit me, and have suffered some things that should have been able to be avoided had I paid better attention. It is good to put on the armor before you go to battle, it is bad to walk off the end of the dock and plunge to the lake bottom quickly due to the weight of the armor.


So we must operate somewhere between the extremes, concentrating but also paying attention.


The job of a watchman on the wall is such a good example. Standing at night looking out into the night, scanning for movement but not focusing on a spot so intensely as to miss the overall picture.

Isa 21:6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. Isa 21:7 And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: Isa 21:8 And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: Isa 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. Isa 21:10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.